Duke Completes Historic Sweep of Baylor

Sunday, February 26

Durham, N.C.

Noon

Duke University

5-2

Baylor

2-5

Baylor

Duke

Duke Completes Historic Sweep of Baylor

2/26/2023 4:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Coach Pollard Postgame Interview Photo Gallery

DURHAM – Duke Baseball (5-2) closed out the series sweep of Baylor (2-5) on Sunday, defeating the Bears 10-3 on a historic weekend at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The Blue Devils outscored Baylor 52-7 on the weekend, collecting a program-high 47 hits and 52 runs. The sweep was the first for the Blue Devils' since sweeping Notre Dame in 2022 at Jack Coombs Field.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Junior Jay Beshears beat out an infield single in the bottom of the third, to score Alex Mooney from third and give the Blue Devils the lead, 1-0.
Baylor responded in the top of the fifth, taking the lead on a single up the middle to score a pair, 2-1.
The Blue Devils tied the ballgame in the bottom of the fifth, as Luke Storm blooped a single to right field to score Mooney from third. Later in the inning, a Baylor wild pitch allowed Storm to score from third to regain the lead, 3-2.
The Bears leveled the score in the top of the sixth, doubling to left center field to score the runner from first.
Duke took the lead back in the seventh, as Baylor misplayed a ball in center field to allow Mooney to score from third, 4-3.
In the bottom of the eighth, Duke added to their lead, scoring on a wild pitch. Mooney added a second run with a deep sacrifice fly to center field to extend the lead to 6-3. The Blue Devils blew open the ballgame scoring six runs in the bottom of the eighth to lead 10-3.

NOTES

Sophomore Ryan Higgins made his first career start on Sunday, working three clean innings and striking out a career-high four batters.
Duke Baseball tallied six stolen bases in the win over Baylor, the first time posting 6 or more in a game since April 19, 2022, when they stole six against Liberty.
Freshman southpaw James Tallon tallied his second save of the season, entering in a one-run ballgame in the eighth, striking out the final four Bears to complete the sweep.
The Blue Devils tallied 47 hits this weekend against Baylor, the most in program history for a three-game series.
Duke produced 52 runs against Baylor this weekend at the DBAP, the most in a three-game series in program history and the most against a Power-Five opponent in a weekend.
The Blue Devils swept Baylor on Sunday, the first sweep since 2022 for Duke, when they defeated Notre Dame at Jack Coombs Field.
Sophomore Alex Mooney extended his hitting streak to seven games to begin the 2023 campaign, doubling down the line in left in the seventh inning.
Sophomore Fran Oschell III recorded his first career win to complete the sweep, working 1.2 innings and striking out four batters.

QUOTES

"The fight from our offense was really good. We talked about that the second half of the Liberty game on Wednesday, we found our fight offensively. We carried that over into the weekend. We talked about the fact that we had 11 of our 21 hits on Friday night with two-strikes and we are competing really good in the box. I thought Coach Tyler did a great job this week making some adjustments with our BP rounds to allow us to lock in and lay off some off-speed that was outside of the zone and I thought it was a really complete effort." – Head coach Chris Pollard on continuing to produce offensively throughout the weekend.
"All weekend long it has been pass the ball to the next man up and the next man has done his job. Higgins made his first career start and gives us three clean hitless innings. I thought Gabriel Nard pitched really well. I told him when he came off, if that ground ball is hit right at Mooney you are off the field right there and the run doesn't score. I thought Fran's stuff was really electric and then James came in and was really good at the end." – On the ability to pass the baton to the next guy in the pitching staff to complete the sweep.

UP NEXT

Duke Baseball returns to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Tuesday, Feb. 28 to host No. 11 East Carolina for a midweek tilt. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

For more information on Duke Baseball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "DukeBASE".

#GoDuke